INVENIRE

A nation is not a plot of land with settlements upon it. In fact, I believe that a nation has little to do with any aspect of its geographical location. A nation is constituted of its people, its values and its traditions. When describing a nation, it is important we comment on its traditions rather than its geographical location. If we were to treat the geographical location as more important, then in a case when the people are exiled from their land, the nation ceases to exist. Historic accounts of exile prove that a nation is made up by its people. When the Israelites were exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem, Israel remained a nation; its people were still unified, its values were still upheld, and its traditions were observed. For this reason, I believe that any group of people worth calling a nation could be placed in any other environment and that there would be no reason to say that the nation had changed. The history of a nation is equally as important as its people; the histo...

In some American towns, high school football (or American football to the rest of the world) is a big deal. In the state of Texas alone, there are 50 stadiums  (with a capacity of 11, 000 are more) that were built with the purpose of hosting high school football games. To many Americans, this is no news story, but many others across the world likely have many questions. How large is high school sport exactly? When did this frenzy over youth sport begin? And how much money is being spent on the game? For many towns across the United States, there is little to do on a Friday night. Take the example of Aledo, Texas. It has a population of just under 3,000 and, therefore, is understandably void of the amenities found in a major city. The town's eponymous high school provide the entertainment on a Friday night with weekly American football matches in the autumn. The Aledo Bearcats, as they are named, are something of celebrities in this rural community; how else would they fill t...

Born to a merchant and a shopkeeper's daughter, circa to the year 1400, in Mainz, Germany, Johannes Gutenberg is known as the man who developed Europe's first movable-type printing press. His invention led to changes in attitudes toward religion and philosophy, ushered in a scientific revolution and, some might argue, laid the foundation for a society in which everyone had access to information and literature.  Gutenberg managed to achieve such a feat, as a result of his innovation, perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit.  His story is proof that great inventions are born from repeated failure, as opposed to success; he invented the printing press to offset the losses from a failed business venture selling mirrors. The purpose of this article is not to re-tell the story of Gutenberg's invention (although it must be the duty of historians to remind us of pioneers like Gutenberg). It is to examine both the immediate effect of his genius on the continent of Europe, and th...

Thirty months ago, in June 2016, Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee of the US Democratic Party for the 2016  presidential election. Poll after poll declared that she would be President of the United States before she was even formally announced as her party's nominee. As expected, she became the party nominee, beating Bernie Sanders, and from there on, nearly every journalist and political pundit proclaimed her triumph over Trump. To affirm her "victory", she appeared with celebrities, hoping that her association with rappers, actors, athletes, late-night hosts and reality TV stars might convince America's approximately 69 million Millenials to vote for her. From Ben Affleck to Henry Zebrowski, via LeBron James and Bill Maher, thousands of celebrities endorsed Clinton's presidential campaign, making certain that Hillary would win in a historic landslide. November would see bigotry and stagnation, the values that Clinton's campaign attached to Trump,...

There has been much talk in recent years about making modern foreign languages compulsory until GCSE level, and recently, Lucy Noble, the artistic director at the Royal Albert Hall, stated that all students should take a GCSE in a creative art subject. Opinion journalists have also written in prominent publications such as The Telegraph, arguing that a modern foreign language should be studied by all students until the age of 16. I would like to make the case for making the study of a classical language compulsory in all secondary schools, as it has many benefits for both the students and the wider society. Classical languages, like Latin and Ancient Greek, are often overlooked, but I believe they are essential to a complete education. Classical languages form the basis for much of the English language, with about 60% of the language having either a Greek or Latin origin. In the jargon of science and technology, this number is 90%, with words like "computer" from computo, m...

Black Friday has come and gone. The day following America's national holiday of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, is traditionally the day of the year on which retailers offer the largest discounts to consumers, with large price cuts on a wide variety of products. The holiday has a long, illustrious tradition, with a variety of stories as to how it began, including the slave trade. The term was first used in September 1869, to describe the financial crisis that occurred after two Wall Street financiers attempted to buy as much of America's gold as possible, in the hope that prices would rise, leaving them with a large profit. The two men, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, failed in this attempt. The earliest use of the term "Black Friday", as we know it, originated in the city of Philadelphia. It was used by police officers to describe the chaos that ensued, as tourists and shoppers travelled to the city for the weekend's Army-Navy American football game. It was only in the 198...

In early October, Amazon announced that they would be raising their minimum wage to USD 15.00 an hour, for all employees in the United States, and to £9.50 for British workers. If examined at face value, this may seem to make no sense, as this would only create more cost for the employer and reduce profits for the company. In this article, I will aim to argue the opposite: this decision by Jeff Bezos is a potentially manipulative move. News organisations like MSNBC and Business Insider tell their audiences of the extent to which Amazon workers suffer, with stories of 80-hour work weeks, missing wages and gruelling shifts. Prominent socialist senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been a vocal critic of the company. In one speech, he stated that "Thousands of Amazon employees are forced to rely on food stamps, Medicaid [a healthcare programme for low-income Americans] and public housing because their wages are too low..." On the 2nd of October, the company said that it had "...